Re: green lawn equipment, not green

We have a mostly traditional lawn, other than some raised beds for growing vegetables in the back yard. We don't use any pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers on the grass. We live in the midwest and get enough rain to keep the lawn green (except in August, when it turns brown and goes temporarily dormant). We don't water anything but the garden and some wildflowers growing beside the house. We have a fair number of weeds mixed in with the grass, but the lawn really doesn't look bad, and most of the neighbors' yards look the same way. Rabbits like the clover in our yard better than the vegetables in our garden. Birds eat the weed seeds. Many of the weeds (clover, plantain, etc.) are nitrogen fixers, meaning that they take nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil, making it more fertile. We don't have any prickly weeds, so our son can play in the yard bare footed.

I have used a electric Black & Decker mower for six years and have had no problems with it. The only regular maintenance I have had to do with it is plug it in and sharpen the blade each season. I also had to replace the batteries (lead acid batteries that can be easily recycled) after about five years.

Houses in our neighborhood keep appreciating, and people have no trouble selling them when they want to move. I know it's not like that everywhere. In some places, the neighbors will complain if there is one weed anywhere in the yard, and in arid parts of the country, you can't have grass without irrigating. Options like xeriscaping, permaculture, and using organic lawn care are good options in those situations.